Job Descriptions: Are They Still Important?

Friday, August 16, 2013

 

Putting aside the regulatory and compliance issues for creating and maintaining job descriptions, are they still important to both employers and employees?  To answer that question, it is necessary to look at the anatomy of a typical description.  Job descriptions contain several basic elements, including a title, summary, explanation of duties, knowledge, skills, and abilities, and the environmental and physical demands of the job.

 

Job Title:  While it may seem obvious, the title is often what internal and external prospective job candidates focus on first when considering whether to apply for a job or not.  Think of it as a gateway, its goal is to be informative while funneling qualified applicants into the screening process.

 

Job Summary:  A paragraph of 2 – 3 sentences providing a high level explanation of the duties of the job.  Again, once the candidate has decided that this job has an appeal for them, the Job Summary provides additional detail to entice the applicant to continue to explore the job or conclude it is the wrong job for them.

 

Explanation of Duties:  This is the heart of the description.  The nuts and bolts of the job’s duties are located here. The reporting and supervising relationships are detailed in this section.  The What, When, Why, Where, How, and How Often of the job are spelled out in what is the body of the description.  For the job candidate, this part of the description should allow them to understand the performance expectations of the employer for the job’s incumbent.

 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:  Every job requires some level of Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.  This section explains to the prospective candidate where and how those attributes were gained and to what level of proficiency the job requires, including alternative means of acquiring such talents.

 

Experience: This section generally describes what kind of experience, how much, where, and when that experience was obtained.  Was the experience progressively more responsible or complex?  In what kind of a business, industry, environment or geographical location was the experience earned?  Over what duration of time was the experience earned and was it at various levels?

 Environmental and Physical Demands:  Although this section was originally derived to address issues with regulatory mandates, it can assist the candidate to understand what demands will be placed on them from a situational standpoint.  Candidates may include or exclude themselves based on their perception of the environmental and physical demands of the job as described.

 

As a recruiting tool, the job description functions to filter candidates in to or out of the selection process.  If unqualified candidates are finding their way into that process, one possibility might be that the job description either under or over states the job’s duties and/or requirements.  Something to consider, is that a poorly written job description may lead to a mis-match between the employer’s and the employee’s performance expectations resulting in higher than desirable rates of both voluntary and involuntary turnover.

 

Jobs are not static and neither are job descriptions, thus they must be written with enough specification to meet the needs of candidates, employers, and employees alike. Jobs can and often vary widely from employer to employer.  While pre-written and canned descriptions may seem to be the expeditious means of creating a placement ad, conducting a  performance evaluation or building a succession plan; they may result in an higher than expected price in the talent war.